China is a country with a long history. It has great traditional culture, especially Chinese characters. Chinese characters usually have more than one meaning and some of them are very interesting. Here are six ones. We use "pinyin" here because “pinyin”is the Chinese spelling way for the characters. For example, "fu" is the “pinyin” for good luck in Chinese. “pinyin”"fu”is only the phonic part of the character and if you want to know the meaning of good luck “fu”, you must read Chinese character 福 because “fu” also represents(代表) other Chinese characters that sound the same.

“fu”means blessing, good fortune, good luck. Chinese character “fu”is one of the most popular ones used during Chinese New Year. Chinese people often put up "fu”upside down on the front door of a house or an apartment. The upside down "fu" means good luck comes since the character for upside down in Chinese sounds the same as the character for “come”.

“lu”is used to mean official's a pay in old China. “shou” means long life, age or birthday. "xi" is happiness, The doubled character "xi” means double happiness. It is usually put up everywhere at Chinese weddings. "cai" is weath or money. Chinese often say “ money can make a ghost turn a millstone”. It is to say money really can do a lot of things. But, money can't buy everything. "he" is an important part of Chinese culture. It means good relations with other people, when you have “he”, things will be a lot easier for you.

The top six lucky Chinese charaters. “fu”"lu”"shou”"xi"“cai" "he”,are particularly loved by Chinese people.

      Father's Day has a very short history. It was started because there was a mother's Day,and just because some Americans thought that if we had a Mother's Day, we should also have a Father's Day. Father's Day has become important in North America. And businessmen found it was a good way to get people to buy a present for the fathers from their shops.

By the way, very few countries have a Father's Day, though some have Children's Day, or a special day for boys and another for girls. More and more countries are having Mother's Day, so maybe Father's Day will become popular before too long. Now, what do people in North America do on Father's Day? The newspapers, radios, and TV tell children what they should buy Father's Day presents for their fathers. They even tell a wife to buy a Father's Day present—-not for her father but for her husband, even if(即使) he is not a father. And they tell grandchildren to buy a present for their grandfathers.

    China is a country with many colorful days and festivals. The Dragon Head Raising Day (Longtaitou) is one of them. This special day is on the second day of the second month in the Chinese lunar calendar. It stands for the start of spring and farming.

    The dragon is important for Chinese. We Chinese call ourselves the "descendants (传人,) of the dragon". Therefore, people celebrate the Dragon Head Raising Day with many customs.

    On the day in ancient times, people put ashes (灰) in the kitchen. This was to "lead the dragon into the house." People believed that with the help of the dragon, they could have a good harvest (收成) in autumn.

    Also, people eat special foods on that day. The foods are usually named after dragons. For example, people eat "dragon whisker(细须)" noodles and dumplings called "dragon teeth".

    Today, many customs have disappeared. But one that has remained is the cutting of hair. It is said that a haircut during the first lunar month may bring bad luck to the uncles of the family--mainly mothers' brothers. So many people have their hair cut on the Dragon Head Raising Day.

    In a map of the world you can easily find two big cities, London and New York. London is the biggest city in Europe. New York is the biggest city in America. The streets in London are crowded and there is one of the world's biggest underground railway systems(地铁系统) .The streets in New York are just as crowded as those in London. And the New York subway carries more people each day than the London underground. There are a lot of big stores in these two cities. But New York has more supermarkets than London.

    In London there are many palaces(宫殿) and churches, for example, St. Paul's. New York isn't as old as London, and it hasn't got many old buildings. But its skyscrapers(摩天大楼) are much bigger than the buildings in London.

    London has more parks than New York, But New York's Central Park is much bigger than the biggest park in London.

    Many of us buy things from vending machines(自动售货机). Most machines sell food and drinks. But this one is special. It sells novels.

    You can see the special vending machines in France. You can find them easily in many places such as airports, train stations and shopping malls.

    The vending machines sell lots of novels. The novels are not the same. Some are long and some are short.

    It's easy to get a novel from the vending machines. First, you need to choose your reading time: 1 minute, 3 minutes or 5 minutes. Then, a piece of paper will come out of the vending machines. Finally, take away the paper and it is the novel you want.

    Lots of young people like the special vending machines. They say the novels from the vending machines can help them pass the time. They don't want to use their mobile phones to read novels. They prefer to read novels on paper.